METTLER TOLEDO's 2nd Annual Customer Council

Greifensee, Schweiz (PressExposure) April 06, 2012 -- Introduced in January 2011, the Customer Council was created to provide a common forum to share ideas and learn from the best and brightest in the grocery industry, in turn guiding the METTLER TOLEDO solutions portfolio in 2012 and beyond.

"Customer Council is the ultimate forum blending industry experts, our customers and technology partners in thought-provoking discussions of grocery trends, challenges and solutions. Out of this potent mix comes creativity, innovation and real answers for our customers' Fresh Departments. The ideas and voices of our customers are captured, flowing right into our product development roadmaps. It's truly a one-of-a-kind event," says Jason Wiley, marketing manager for the Retail business area of Mettler Toledo, LLC.

This year's council is centered on five pertinent subjects affecting today's grocery retailers. Each topic will feature an industry speaker and panel or roundtable discussions. In addition, there will be a chance to learn about the METTLER TOLEDO solutions in each focus area, and provide input on the future of our solutions to better meet growing business needs.

Sustainability
What does going green means for today's grocery retailers? Learn how to increase sustainability by reducing carbon footprint, evaluating suppliers and implementing energy saving technology. Discuss simple changes to stores and equipment that can have a major impact on the bottom line, and can be directly or indirectly marketed to the consumer.

Food Safety and Traceability
Recent laws such as the Food Safety Modernization Act and Meat Nutrition Labeling regulation have helped take a stand for the consumer by emphasizing the importance of ensuring food safety and transparency of nutrition facts. Discuss how these changes are affecting retailers' in-store production, packaging and application identifiers added to product codes.

Self-Service

A norm across European Supermarkets' Fresh Departments, self-service scales are more of the exception for US grocers. Learn how these scales can be integrated into Fresh Departments, and about the potential benefits including aiding in faster check-outs, providing key information at the point of product selection and reducing shrink.

Packaging and Labeling

Discuss in-store production and packaging issues faced by operational personnel, the hottest packaging trends and how to keep fresh departments up-to-date on requirements, regulations and policies related to packaging. Consider opportunities to look up stream to equipment vendors and consider how they can help or assist in the process. Finally, learn how others are complying with the recent Meat Nutrifacts regulation and share thoughts on its success and challenges.

Food Waste and Shrink

One of the biggest challenges in the Fresh Department is controlling and managing food waste and shrink. Discuss key questions centered around reducing waste, tracking/identification and how fresh department employees can help prevent loss. Learn about the Food Waste Initiative: a targeted effort to reduce waste through improved efforts such as recycling, use of food banks, etc. Started in 2011, the Initiative's Leadership committee is comprised of a handful of key grocery retailers.

The Customer Council is dedicated to the voice of the customer. Participation in this unique event helps fuel this collaboration and offers the opportunity to be a part of the discussion of this year's industry trends and hear from top minds in the grocery industry.

Registration for the 2012 Customer Council is free. Visit the 2012 Customer Council website at http://www.mtcustomercouncil.com for agenda, travel and registration details.

METTLER TOLEDO specializes in the area of precision instruments for professional use. METTLER TOLEDO laboratory instruments are used in research, scientific, drug discovery, and quality control labs, amongst many others in the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and cosmetics industries. METTLER TOLEDO comprehensive industrial solutions cover the various steps in a host of manufacturing processes at many of the same customers that laboratory serves. Solutions range from receiving raw materials through various manufacturing processes, in-line process control and end-of-line packaging control, to logistics and shipping. Increasingly, these solutions are fully integrated into the customer's IT environment, helping automate their workflows. In food retail, our offering for fresh food management ranges from receiving and pre-packaging, to in-store solutions for self-service departments, deli counters, and checkout terminals.